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Dott, aka zo�i (Chadic, West-B, South-Bauchi):Grammatical notes, vocabulary and text

Bernard Caron

To cite this version:Bernard Caron. Dott, aka zo�i (Chadic, West-B, South-Bauchi): Grammatical notes, vocabulary andtext. Afrika und Übersee, Reimer, 2002, 85, pp.161-248. �halshs-00644641�

, aka Dott (Chadic, West-B, South-Bauchi): Grammatical notes and vocabulary B. CARON Llacan*

1. Introduction

, called Dott by Shimizu (78 : 13), belongs to the Southern Bauchi group of the West Chadic-B sub-branch (SBW) of Chadic (Afroasiatic).

* Llacan (Langage, Langues et Culture d’Afrique Noire), UMR 7594 (CNRS, Inalco, Paris7) - 7, rue Guy-Môquet 94801 VILLEJUIF Cedex France. caron@vjf.cnrs.fr. 1 This paper is the result of 3 field trips to the village of Dott, of 3 to 4 days each, between 1998 and 2002. I want to express my deep gratitude to the Sarkin Dott, and to the Ubandoma, Ahmed A. Domas and his family. Ahmed has been an extremely patient and gifted language assistant, and has liberally given me his time and energy, driving me around on the back of his motorcycle on the paths of numerous villages, looking for mysterious Chadic languages way beyond the area. He and his family have made my stay in his compound in Dott a real pleasure. Many thanks to Ahmed’s brother, Nuhu A. Domas, for answering my unending questions. Transcription system : Long vowels are indicated by double letters ; high (Hi=H) tone = ; low (Lo=L) tone = ; falling tone = ; rising tone =We have preferred to use the IPA instead of Hausa spelling conventions to transcribe sounds. i.e. Hausa is ; is . However, outside the consonant chart, for the sake of legibility, we have kept the letter y to transcribe IPA j.

is the ethnonym of a group of people living in the village of Dott, and 7 of the 11 wards ruled over by its chief. The 7 wards are : , , , ª, , , ª. Hausa and Fulße are spoken in the other wards : , , and They call their language, the language of the The started converting to Islam in the 60’s, and are now mainly Muslims, with few Christians and Animists among them. The language borrows heavily to Hausa, both in the vocabulary (25 % of our lexical entries) and in the grammar (conjunctions, auxiliaries, topicalization particles). However, it has retained the essential of its typical SBW character.

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2. Phonology

2.1 Consonant phonemes

As in Hausa, all words begin with a consonant and vowel-initial words in the transcription are preceded by a glottal stop : , at ; , of ; , fowl = . The voiced lateral fricative [] is absent.

/k/ has many allophones whose distribution is not clear : it is pronounced [k] in initial position, [ in intervocalic position : [] < , [he] greeted you, lit. gave you welcome, but cf. [], after. It is pronounced when followed by a nasal : [] = , arm, wing, branch ; [] < , praise-pl ; cf []< , thank you (lit. we+Aor. praise Perf., Hau mun gode). It is pronounced [k], sometimes [q2

2.2 Vowels

] when followed by other consonants, except in the context where it is pronounced [x] : [] < , praising. At the end of an utterance, it is pronounced [] or [].

The tendency to labialise consonants in front of short / is not as systematic as in Zaar for example : , here = [~]. , , , and are palatalised in front of // and //.

has a six-vowel system, all of them except for // occurring short and long, with no nasals.

short long

Pending a deeper phonological analysis, we have chosen to account for diphthongs as a sequence vowel+glide : ; ; ; ; . These sequences don’t appear in the stock lexicon. They occur only in loan-words from Hausa, or result from suffixation with morphemes.

2.3 Tones has two levels of tone (Hi, Lo), plus a rising tone (Lo-Hi) and a falling tone (Hi-Lo).

3. Verbal morphology

3.1 Verb classes has one and two-syllable verbs, with various tone schemes3

2 Uvular stop. 3 There is 1 verb borrowed from Hausa with HHL tones : káránta, read.

:

3

1 syll. L (56%) turn round H (13%) tell 2 syll. HL (20%) run LL (8%) swallow 2 syll. LH (6 ex.) stand up HH (3ex.) mix

3.2 Verb plurality Verb plurality is not consistently marked in . Verbs and verbal nouns sometimes take a -ni suffix (with a floating Hi tone) in agreement with plural subjects or objects : , do ; , eat ; , get up, grow up, migrate (Hau. tashi).

3s Foc 1s+Fut eat Pro 1pl+Fut eat+pl victory it’s what I shall eat with we will win 2sg+Aor. grow up 1pl+Aor migrate of far you grew up we came from far

This suffix is incompatible with the Perfective.

3.3 Verbal extensions One verbal extension was identified, elicited with Hausa grade 5 ‘causative’ verbs. It is fairly common in the small corpus we used. The form is with a Hi tone suffixed to CV verbs, and with a Hi-Lo tone scheme suffixed to CVC verbs.

original vb. Hausa Zoi derived vb. Hausa Zoi come out fita get out fitar (da) get down sauka take down saukar (da) climb hau take up hawar (da) hide (int.) ßoye hide (tr.) ßuyar get spoilt ata spoil atar (da) pour zuba pour away zubar sit zauna sit down zaunar (da)

Some verbs have the form of a causative, without any obvious original verb to be associated with : , sell ; bring ; , , take to.

3.4 Verbal nouns There exists two type of Verbal Nouns (VN) in . They both have -ti suffixes but they differ by their tones. The VN appearing in non-Continuous constructions have Lo tones :

say put swallow get up, etc.

In the Continuous, the tones depend on the number of syllables of the verb.

For one syllable verbs, the Verbal Noun takes a Hi tone on the first syllable. Compare the following examples contrasting continuous and non-continuous uses of the verbal nouns. greetings with coming 3pl.+Cont. coming Welcome ! they are coming

3sg. that already (Aux.) telling 2sg. Comp. he who has already told you that (...)

4

because 3sg. Cond Cont. telling 2sg. that because if he is telling you that (...)

• For two-syllable verbs, the -ti suffix does not alter the lexical tone of the verb in the continuous.

fear roll spin lear whistle laugh cement mix

4. Numerals

1 11 2 12 3 13 4 20 5 21 6 30 7 40 8 50 9 100 10 1000

Ordinals are made with the preposition preceding the cardinal number, which appears in the definite form, viz suffixed with an : , second ; , third, etc. , first, is an exception. is to be compared to Zaar , face, front, forward. is borrowed from Hausa.

5. Nouns

5.1 Gender There is no morphological gender in .

5.2 Plural In nouns, plurals are rare, lexical, and limited to humans : women (, sg. ), children (, sg. ). men () for example, is a collective noun. However, in the nominal system, plurality is marked in the indefinite, in deictics and relative pronouns.

5.3 Possessive NP + NP constructions Possessive constructions in use the genitive link : ‘king of Dot’ ; , ‘(the) house of (the) father of (the) girl’.

The genitive link ú is polyfunctional. Its use is not limited to possession, but expresses a more abstract link between two notions. It is used also for adjectival constructions(cf. infra XXX) and composition ( ‘iron’, lit. ‘metal of black’ ; ‘copper’, lit. ‘metal of red’ ; ‘sunlight’, lit. ‘sun of white’ ‘moonlight’, lit. ‘moon of white’ ; ‘food’, lit. ‘thing of food’4

4 In the compound , the genitive link [] has lost its initial [].

). It is used to introduce complements of nominal predicates

5

(..., ‘angry with the thing that...’ ; ‘greeting his wife’, lit. ‘doing greeting of wife-his’) and of prepositional phrases : a ‘in front of the king’.

5.4 Definiteness

5.4.1 Definite The -i suffix in expresses a low level of definiteness and can be interpreted as a mark of individuation.

5.4.2 Indefinite The indefinite determiner is for the singular, and for the plural. It can be used pronominally :

excl. excl. some at here

Look, there’s one ! (Hau : Ap ! Ai ga wani nan !) When used as a determinant, it can occur on the right of the noun :

Neg 1pl know thing some Neg

We don’t know anything after day some

after a few days or on the left. In this case, its becomes MH and it is followed by the definite (-i) form of the noun :

Neg 1sg already get some thing that spoil+1sg heart Neg

I never got anything that made me sad (lit. spoilt my heart).

5.5 Quantifiers The distributive quantifiers are (pro.), everybody ; , each/every (for a thing).

everyone Cont laughing

Everybody is laughing. The determinant is followed by a noun phrase with the definite suffix:

each day+def each day five+def every year every five year

The global quantifier , all, has both adjectival uses

all thing that bother+1s Perf ...

all the things that bothered me...

and pronominal uses :

people+of prayer people+of Christ all 3pl+Hab gather+pl. 3pl.+pl

Muslims, Christiants, all gather.

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5.6 Deictics uses proximal and distal deictics. Pronouns and determinants are sensitive to number.

proximal distal Adverbs here there Determinants sg this (cow) that (cow) pl these (cows) those (cows) Pronouns sg this one that one pl these ones those ones

6. Adjectives

Although there are a certain number of verbs with a stative meaning, the adjectival function is relatively well developed in , with adjectives proper and participles.

6.1 Adjectives proper Adjectives are not uncommon in , and are represented beyond the class of colour terms : , white ; , red ; , blue ; , black ; , big ; , sweet ; , ugly ; , wet, unripe ; , deep ; , new ; , cold. The unusual adjective , big, is found in the expression , big spirits.

6.2 Participles Participles are derived from verbs with the suffix —often pronounced — and a MH(M) tone scheme :

heat up hot fill full circle round be dry dry be narrow narrow get old old ripen ripe remain left over rot rotten

Some participles cannot be linked to a verb : , void ; , sour ; , crooked ; , evil, mad ; , [], honest.

6.3 Adjectival constructions

6.3.1 Attributive adjectives The paratactic construction uses the Noun + Adjective : , an orange (lit. lemon sweet) ; , a black cow (lit. cow black)

The analytic construction uses the genitive link and the word order Noun + + Adjective : , ‘elder/younger brother’, lit. ‘brother of old/young’ ; , ‘good advice’, lit. ‘advice of good’ ; , ‘good song’, lit. ‘song of nice’.

I+Aor cross river of deep

I crossed a deep river.

6.3.2 Predicative adjectives Predicative adjectives use the non-verbal predicate

5 This word is pronounced [] in sentence-final position and [] elsewhere.

(‘be’) with the order Noun + Adjective + :

7

man this ugly be

This man is ugly. The negative uses the particle :

cow+def black be Neg. white be

The cow is not black, it is white. Another construction uses , which is a contraction of (‘be’) and the genitive link (‘of’), with the order Noun + + Adjective :

cow+def be+of black tree+def be+of big the cow is black the tree is big This same construction is used when the predicate is a quality expressed by a noun :

2sg 2sg be+of knowledge well but 1pl Top ...

You, you are educated, well but as for us...

6.4 Participle constructions

6.4.1 Attributive participles There exists only a paratactic construction, with the order Participle + Noun, using the short form of the participle.

give+me dry bread Perf

Give me some dry bread !

6.4.2 Predicative participles In the affirmative, predicative participles use the non-verbal predicate only, without genitive link, and the word order Noun + Participle + . The negation uses the Negative Perfect of the corresponding verb. (cf. 8.2.3)

bread+def be dry bread+def Neg dry Neg the bread is dry the bread is not dry

7. Pronominal paradigms

7.1 Subject pronouns There are three basic paradigms : Aorist, Continuous and Future.

Other aspects (Perfect, Habitual) are marked by particles combined with the Aorist pronouns.

7.1.1 Basic TAM’s Aorist Future Continuous 1sg. 2sg. 3sg. 1pl 2pl 3pl

In the Continuous, the verb is replaced by a Verbal Noun (cf. § 3.4).

The Future often appears with suffixed to the verb :

8

3pl+Fut touch-ni cow

They will touch the cow. However, the same suffix can appear with other tenses, such as the Aorist used with stative verbs :

1s+Aor like-ni food of hot

I like hot food. food this hot-ni really

This food is too hot. With a nominal subject, the aspect morpheme appears alone : zero () for the Aorist, for the Continuous and for the Future.

rabbit Aor. get angry of thing Comp he-goat Cont. doing

Rabbit got angry about what He-goat was doing. he-goat Fut enter-ni

He-goat will enter.

7.1.2 Derived TAM’s 7.1.2.1 Perfect

The Perfect is a combination of the Aorist + at the end of the Verb Phrase. The initial // of the particle assimilates to the preceding consonant or becomes [when following a vowel. If the initial C of the particle has assimilated to a nasal, a lateral, a semi-vowel, or [h], the utterance-final /K/ is realised [h].

people Aor come out Perf

people came out they-Aor tell (traditional title) Perf

they told the war chief // is realised [] when followed by a nasal (generally the negative particle ) :

Neg until people Aor do war Perf Neg

it doesn’t mean that people make war It is realised [] when followed by any other consonant or when utterance final :

if one that Aor take Perf well [...]

if one agrees, well [...]

7.1.2.2 Habitual The habitual is marked by inserted between the Aorist subject pronouns and the verb.

one Hab go at war of hand empty Neg

People don’t go to war empty-handed (Hau. «) can also appear with the Future :

like this that 3p-Fut Hab do again

that’s the way they will go on doing (Hau. «)

6 When utterance final, the [] can be replaced by the glottal stop [.

9

is related to the adverb again7

7.2 Other pronouns

. This adverb often appears redundantly with the Habitual, as in the example above.

Object pronouns

Possessive pronouns

Nominal Predication

ICP Independent pronouns

1sg. 2sg. 3sg. 1pl 2pl 3pl

Comments :

• 3 kinship terms (, husband ; , son ; , mother’s brother) have a special genitive paradigm :

Possessive pronouns

uncle husband

1sg. 2sg. 3sg. 1pl 2pl 3pl

• ICP’s are suffixed to the verb, with frequent consonant assimilation. The 1st person singular is marked by a Hi tone on the last syllable of the verb. NB : the 3rd person singular which, with the Continuous , is the only survival of the common Chadic personal mark, under the form of the feminine pronoun. Elsewhere, the 3rd person mark is replaced by the word , which is to be compared to the word , thing.

• The Dative does not have a specific paradigm, but is only marked in the 3rd person by a suffixed to the verb. It replaces the Direct Object 3rd person singular pronoun , and the 3rd person plural pronoun , becomes Lo :

Perfect sg they brought (it) to him pl. they brought (it) to them Continuous sg they are bringing (it) to him pl they are bringing (it) to them Future sg they will bring (it) to him pl they will bring (it) to them

8. Syntax

8.1 Verbless sentences

8.1.1 Identification Identification is expressed either with a zero predicate :

name 1s.poss Equ Musa Zailani

My name is Musa Zailani. or with the non-verbal predicates or

7 The relation with the polysemic of location is not clear (cf XXX)

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2s Equ king

You are the King of Dott. Dauda Musa Equ

Dauda Musa is the King of Dott.

8.1.2 Location Location typically uses the non-verbal and prepositional phrases beginning with , at : , on top of ; , under ; , across ; , behind ; , , in front ; , inside ; , outside ; , near, etc.

cup (<be +at) top table

The cup is on the table

8.1.3 Existence, location & possession The non-verbal predicate is highly polysemic. From a basic locative meaning, depending on the semantic properties of the NP’s it is associated with, it will express existence, location or possession :

Existence :

yes Yanzu Loc

Yes, there’s Yanzu staying of formerly respect Loc

In older days, there was respect. Location :

1sg 1sg know place Rel 1sg Loc

(only) I know where I am Possession :

1sg Loc of friend Rel+pl.

I have friends who [...] 3pl Loc of young some

they have a small (one) king Loc of tail Neg

the king doesn't have a tail

8.2 Negation Negation is marked by the particle at the end of the phrase or the sentence.

8.2.1 Non-verbal sentence see people+3s. how many Foc Loc Neg how many Foc return 3pl.

He saw how many of his people were not there, how many had come back.

8.2.2 Verbal sentence 2sg+Aor know one Hab go at war with hand empty Neg

One doesn’t go to war empty-handed.

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8.2.3 Perfect In the Perfect, the discontinuous negation replaces the Affirmative Perfect mark .

Neg 3pl.+Aor get victory at top 1pl. Neg

They have not overcome us.

8.2.4 Hausa loanwords The negative marker (borrowed from Hausa) is often used at the beginning of negative phrases and sentences.

Neg Ident. Festival of big Neg

It is not a big festival. In the same way, is borrowed from Hausa for the negation of the subjunctive uses of the Aorist :

because Neg people+def take thing 3sg.+Poss Neg

So that people don’t take his things.

8.3 Focus The focused element is fronted, preceded by the identification predicate , and followed by the topic particles for subjects and

for other functions. With circumstantial complements (place, time, manner, cause) there appears the resumptive location particle .

Non-focused sentence :

child+def. pour milk into calabash

The girl poured milk into a calabash. Focused subject

Ident. child Foc pour milk into calabash

Its the girl that poured milk into the calabash. Focused object

Ident. milk Rel child+def. Pou

r into calabash

It’s milk that the girl poured into the calabash. Focused circumstancial

Ident. into calabash Rel child+def. pour milk Pro

It’s into the calabash that the girl poured milk.

8.4 Question

8.4.1 Yes/no questions Yes/No questions have the same syntactic structure as declarative sentences. They are characterised by a falling intoneme at the end of the sentence, which is perceived only when the sentences finishes with a Hi tone, and a lengthening of final vowels.

(or) 2s.+Aor do school Perf

Did you go to school ?

8 is also the relative complementiser (cf. infra).

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When the sentence is not in the Perfect, or is added to the last word :

2sg. Poss of friend+Quest

Did you have friends ? 2pl.+Hab. Give+pl. money that is dowry+Quest

Did you use to give money, that is a dowry ?

8.4.2 Wh- questions questions words are : , what ; , who ; , which one ; geegoy (< +, ‘day’), when (lit. which day) ; , how many ; , how ; / , why. The same falling intoneme is used with Wh questions and yes/no questions. Questions words appear either in situ, or in a focus construction.

8.4.2.1 In situ constructions pleasure of mother with of father which one exceed pleasure

Between a mother’s joy and a father’s, which one is the best? wife 2s.+Poss how many

how many wives do you have ? 2s.+Aor feel+Pl. how day that 3pl.+Aor

how did you feel the day that they [...] ? child boy buy+Pl. pancake+def. where

Where did the boy buy the pancake ?

8.4.2.2 Focus construction In the focus construction, the question word comes first in the sentence, followed by the focus markers : to question subjects, and to question the other syntactic functions. Circumstantial complements are characterised by the resumptive pronominal mark , followed by either the definite suffix or the question mark

8.4.2.2.1 Subject which one Foc exceed pleasure+Quest

Which one is the best ? how many Foc die 2sg+Quest

How many [children] did you lose ? (lit. died [on] you)

8.4.2.2.2 Object what Rel child boy eat+Quest

What did the child eat?

8.4.2.2.3 Circumstancials when / where / how / why Rel buy pancake +def. / + Quest

When / where / how / why did he buy pancake ? who Rel 2sg. exceed staying 2sg. 2sg.++Quest

Who did you most stay with?

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8.5 Complex sentences

8.5.1 Relative clauses The relative pronouns are for singular and for plural pivot nouns.

well then child boy+def. do thing Rel. Cont. wanting

Well, then the child did what he wanted. then children girl Rel.+pl. 3pl.+Aor take men+def. Neg 3pl.+Aor return 3pl. Perf. Neg

Then, the girls who had found a husband did not return.

8.5.2 Subordination Subordination can be unmarked, with subordinate clauses as a mere topic interpreted as a condition, cause or temporal clause according to the context. Conjunctions can be either of origin ( / , when ; , before ; , after ; , because, so that ; , although) or borrowed from Hausa (, then ; , before ; , since ; , because, so that). We will just illustrate this with conditionals.

Except for the 1st person singular, the condition (generally with a temporal meaning) is marked by

appearing between the subject and the verb of the protasis. The verb is generally in the Perfect, more rarely in the Continuous.

3pl. Foc follow 3pl Perf well [...]

If they follow them, then [...] then day Foc cut Perf [...]

Then, if the day breaks, [...] king Foc sit down Perf then [...]

If the king sits down, then [...] , borrowed from Hausa, is often added to the beginning of the protasis.

if festival Foc arrive Perf at top day well [...]

If the fwak-fwak festival falls on the day of the festival, then [...] If the verb of the protasis is in the 1st person singular, the condition is expressed by a specific form of subject pronoun : :

1sg+Cond find people Perf at top fight then [...]

If I find people fighting, then [...] The protasis can also be a non-verbal clause.

if Neg it is day fwak-fwak Neg well then [...]

If it is not the day of fwak-fwak, well, then [...]

9 It is difficult not to relate this to the Focus marker. This poses an interesting problem for general linguistics which, since Haiman, tends to consider conditionals as topics.

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Counterfactuals are introduced by the particle :

Count. People+anaph. Neg get education Neg excl. [...]

If people hadn’t got any education, well [...]

9. References

Shimizu, Kiyoshi. (1978). The Southern Bauchi Group of Chadic Languages. A survey report, 50 p. Coll. Africana Marburgensia ; n° 2 (Special Issue ).